Miniature or micro-displays are known which are so small that they generate an image that the eye cannot resolve without the aid of magnification optics. These micro-displays have a sufficiently large number of pixels to generate an image of alpha-numeric information such as is capable of being generated on a standard size computer CRT display. One type of micro-display is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,124. This patent shows a reflective display system that is responsive to non-perpendicular light that impinges on the display at a particular angle in order to generate an image. A beam splitter, reflective magnifying lens and a second magnifying lens are used to direct light from the display to a user's eye so that an enlarged virtual image of the display generated image can be discerned.
Another known type of reflective micro-display requires on-axis light to generate an image. On-axis light as used herein is light that is generally or substantially perpendicular to the surface of the display. In this type of reflective micro-display, pixels in an in-active mode absorb light and pixels in an active mode reflect on-axis light so as to generate an image. In known reflective micro-displays of this type, multiple beam splitters having a partially reflective coating have been used to reflect light from an off-axis light source to the display surface. Multiple beam splitters of this type, however, greatly reduce the light throughput of the system and the resulting brightness of the image generated so that the image is difficult to discern.